


A Sword By Any Other Name

by sasha_b



Category: Arthurian Mythology, Original Work
Genre: Arthurian, Fic Exchange, Gen, Original Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-27 02:50:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20941061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasha_b/pseuds/sasha_b
Summary: Excalibur, through the years.





	A Sword By Any Other Name

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AlexSeanchai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexSeanchai/gifts).

> For the prompt _Self-Aware Magic Sword & Its Various Wielders Through Fantasy History_.

1.

Caladfwlch was too young to be bored. It hadn't waited that long; the wise man had placed it in the stone only a few sun-turns ago, and the sword wasn't rusty or angry yet. It had a feeling it might get that way, but until it did, it would sing as long as it took the correct warrior to come along and take it to its rightful destiny.

As cliched as that sounded, it was ready. And strong, and it knew there was no other sword like it in the world.

2.

Excalibur, the fearsome weapon that hung at the side of Artorius, or Arthur, as the Britons called him, was blood drenched and sang the song of war still. It was reaching the turn in its history where it wasn't sure if it needed a rest in order to be what it was supposed to be, but the young king that had plucked it from the grotto the magician had hidden it in was relentless and a master of the art of battle, and the sword loved the king. He was fearsome and terrifying and his knights and his queen loved him, and the sword sorrowed when the king's life was cut short by the king's own son, and the king's other blade, Clarent, a sister to Excalibur.

The lake Excalibur was lofted into was quiet and still, and the humans that went about their business above the waters didn't disturb or wake the sword for many, many years.

3.

When they did, the land was different, the time was different, and Excalibur was different.

It was oiled and cared for and the projectiles that were fed into its guts were steel and iron and despite not being slid into a traditional scabbard or hung on a wall at times of rest, the sword was happy with its amount of bloodshed.

The king that carried it this time was also Arthur, but this Arthur wore a uniform and crown of a different sort; black and smooth and the thing the king rode on wasn't a horse or anything like it. Excalibur was fine with that, as long as it was in use for the purpose it was created for.

It went into a vault when this Arthur was taken out by another king, this one wearing red and carrying his own projectile firing sword.

4.

A woman called Guin had melted the material Excalibur was made from - its form changed, but its purpose remained the same. It was tired, now, though.

Guin loved it and attached a small, glittering red jewel to its hilt, the projectile firing shape returned to one of sharp, deadly beauty, a dagger more than a sword. The world had moved on, and the importance of things such as art and music and anything that didn't provide sustenance or shelter was considered frivolous. Excalibur had a feeling Guin kept it as a trophy, really, but the battle that took her life was one it had never seen the likes of, and as it lay in the bloody sand, it thought the young woman might have been the best of them all.

5.

Time is a wheel.

The sword, rusted and ancient, was stuck through the edge of an old tree branch, and sometimes called Caliburn, sometimes called Excalibur, sometimes called Arondight. That made the sword extremely amused, as that weapon was completely different and it had no idea where that particular one had ended up. That king hadn't been a king at all, but a knight, and Excalibur wondered if its memory was correct in thinking that one of its Arthur's had loved that knight. Or had it been the knight that had loved the king? Or the queen? Or had the sword loved the other sword and had it been drawn to Arondight in the first place, thus bringing that Arthur and that knight together for legend's purposes?

It had long since lost its need for bloodshed, but -

\- as it was drawn again

\- and again

\- it realized its own needs didn't matter, and if it could weep from exhaustion, it would have.

Instead, it came out of the tree or rock or river bottom or safe with a song that reverberated in all the bearer's ears, and it did what it was made to do, no matter the king or queen or person that cradled it in their hands.

~

**Author's Note:**

> I really enjoyed doing this! Thanks and happy Gift box!!


End file.
